Intercept-Angle Guidance

Abstract

interest is aerial interception between a missile and a maneuvering target. The guidance concept is applicable in all aerial interception geometries: namely, head-on, tail-chase, and the novel head-pursuit. Analytical conditions for existence of these different engagement geometries are derived. The guidance concept is implemented using the sliding-modeapproach. Thecommonassumption of flight alonganinitial collisiontriangle isnottaken,andthusthe guidance law is applicable for both midcourse and endgame guidance. The application in the different engagement geometries is studied via simulation. It is shown that the head-on scenario allows the smallest range of intercept angles.Italsoplacesthemostseveremaneuverabilityrequirementsontheinterceptor.Thus,insomecases,tail-chase or head-pursuit engagements should be considered instead. The choice between the two is dependent on the adversary’s speed ratio; for tail-chase, the interceptor must have a speed advantage over its target, while for headpursuit, it must have a speed disadvantage.